Exodus 19:18

_AND MOUNT SINAI WAS ALTOGETHER ON A SMOKE, BECAUSE THE LORD DESCENDED UPON IT IN FIRE: AND THE SMOKE THEREOF ASCENDED AS THE SMOKE OF A FURNACE, AND THE WHOLE MOUNT QUAKED GREATLY._ The Lord descended upon it in fire. This was an extraordinary, unprecedented display of the Shechinah, that fiery effulgence surrounded with dark clouds, in which Yahweh is represented as appearing. On this occasion the transcendent brightness of this glory is described, in the sublime poetry of Habakkuk (Habakkuk 3:3), as covering the whole firmament far and wide above the Arabian desert. AND THE WHOLE MOUNT QUAKED GREATLY. Since 'the shaking of the earth' is a common figure of the prophets to indicate great moral and political revolutions, the tremulous motion of Sinai was emblematic of the change which then occurred, when God took the nation of Israel into covenant, avouching Hi

18._And all the people saw the thunderings. _Because in the parallel passage (218) Moses more largely pursues what he here only touches upon briefly, I shall also defer my full exposition of it. If he had been the only spectator of God’s glory, the credit of his testimony would be lighter; after having, then, reported the ten commandments, which God Himself spoke with His own sacred lips in the hearing of the people, he adds, at the same time, that the lightning’s shone openly, the mountain smoked, the trumpets sounded, and the thunder rolled. It follows, therefore, that by these conspicuous and illustrious signs, the law was ratified before all the people, from the greatest even to the least. The confession of the whole people is added; when, overwhelmed with alarm, they supplicate God to go on speaking no more. For no longer could they now despise the voice of the man, whom they had of...

16-25 Never was there such a sermon preached, before or since, as this which was preached to the church in the wilderness. It might be supposed that the terrors would have checked presumption and curiosity in the people; but the hard heart of an unawakened sinner can trifle with the most terrible threatenings and judgments. In drawing near to God, we must never forget his holiness and greatness, nor our own meanness and pollution. We cannot stand in judgment before him according to his righteous law. The convinced transgressor asks, What must I do to be saved? and he hears the voice, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. The Holy Ghost, who made the law to convince of sin, now takes of the things of Christ, and shows them to us. In the gospel we read, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. We have redemption through his blood,...

A FURNACE - The word in the original is Egyptian, and occurs only in the Pentateuch....

EXPOSITION THE MANIFESTATION OF GOD UPON SINAI. All was ready. The fence had been made (Exodus 19:23); the people had purified themselves—at least so far as externals went. The third day was come—there was a breathless hush of expectation. Then suddenly, in the morning, the presence manifested itself. "There were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud" (Exodus 19:16); "and Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace and the whole mount quaked greatly" (Exod

AND MOUNT SINAI WAS ALTOGETHER ON A SMOKE,.... Not from nature, as volcanos, but for a reason after given; it seemed to be one large body of smoke, nothing else to be seen but smoke; an emblem of the darkness of the legal dispensation, which was full of obscure types and figures, of dark shadows and smoky sacrifices, to which the clear day, of the Gospel dispensation is opposed, see 2 Corinthians 3:12 BECAUSE THE LORD DESCENDED UPON IT IN FIRE; in flaming fire, as the Targums, which set the mountain on fire, and caused this prodigious smoke; for if he, who is a consuming fire, but toucheth the hills and mountains, they smoke, Psalms 104:32 AND THE SMOKE THEREOF ASCENDED AS THE SMOKE OF A FURNACE such an one as that which Abraham in vision saw,...

EXODUS 19. AWFUL REVELATION OF GOD IN FIRE AND CLOUD. Exodus 19:1 a P, Exodus 19:2 b - Exodus 19:3 a E, Exodus 19:3 b - Exodus 19:6 Rd, Exodus 19:7 a E, Exodus 19:11 b - Exodus 19:13 J, Exodus 19:14 E,...

THE TEXT OF EXODUS TRANSLATION 19 IN THE THIRD MONTH AFTER THE CHILDREN OF IS-RA-EL WERE GONE FORTH OUT OF THE LAND OF E-GYPT, THE SAME DAY CAME THEY INTO THE WILDERNESS OF SI-NAI. (2) AND WHEN THEY WERE DEPARTED FROM REPH-I-DIM, AND WERE COME TO THE WILDERNESS OF SI-NAI, THEY ENCAMPED IN THE WILDERNESS; AND THERE IS-RA-EL ENCAMPED BEFORE THE MOUNT. (3) AND MO-SES WENT UP UNTO GOD, AND JE-HO-VAH CALLED UNTO HIM OUT OF THE MOUNTAIN, SAYING, THUS SHALT THOU SAY TO THE HOUSE OF JACOB, AND TELL THE CHILDREN OF IS-RA-EL: (4) YE HAVE SEEN WHAT I DID UNTO THE E-GYP-TIANS, AND HOW I BARE YOU ON EAGLES-' WINGS, AND BROUGHT YOU UNTO MYSELF. (5) NOW THEREFORE, IF YE WILL OBEY MY VOICE INDEED, AND KEEP MY COVENANT, THEN YE SHALL BE MINE OWN POSSESSION FROM AMONG ALL PEOPLES: FOR ALL THE EARTH IS MINE: (6) AND YE SHALL BE UNTO ME A KINGDOM OF PRIESTS, AND A HOLY NATION. THESE ARE THE WORDS WHICH THO...

PREPARATION FOR THE GIVING OF THE LAW 1. The same day] the 15th day of the month: cp. Exodus 12:18; Exodus 12:29; Exodus 16:1. Marching slowly, with long halts at the various stations on the route, the host took two months to traverse the 150 m between Egypt and Sinai. Here they remained eleven months (see Numbers 10:11), during which time the nation entered into a formal covenant with Jehovah on the basis of the moral law received from God by Moses, and promulgated by him. WILDERNESS OF SINAI] This must not be confounded with the 'wilderness of Sin' (see on...

EXODUS: *ISRAEL BECOMES A NATION GOD’S INSTRUCTIONS TO MOSES EXODUS CHAPTER S 19 TO 40 _HILDA BRIGHT AND KITTY PRIDE_ ABOUT THE BOOK OF EXODUS Exodus is one of the first 5 books of the *Old Testament. We speak about these 5 books together as ‘the Pentateuch’. The *Greek translation gave this book its name ‘Exodus’. It means ‘to go out’. God helped the *Israelites ‘to go out’ from *Egypt. The book is in two parts: Chapter s 1-18: the first part of Moses’ life; the *Israelites’ troubles in Egypt; the events and the *plagues that led the *Israelites to leave Egypt. Chapter s 19-40: how God gave the Law to Moses; how they built the special holy tent (*Tabernacle); the rules for *worship. Moses was the most important person in all these events. He was the main person who recorded the events....